Harper's Ferry sentinel. [volume] (Harpers Ferry, W. Va.) 1887-1902, 1887-12-31
THE MEXIgAES CUISINE,



HOW FOOD Is PREPARED IN " OUR
SISTER REPUBLIcp
a Typical Mexican Kitchen The
stan OF Life. "a Boiled Com
glomcration after Soup.
tits an unauestionable fact, writes FAM
ME B. Ward from Mexico, that the lasisi,feI
is q fair criterion Of the civilization Of any
nation and that Of Mexico Is as uniqueD
is the dress and manners Of her people.
The climate. no doubt, as well as the
Moorish arc hitecture Of the house, has
much to do about it. In this hot coun-I
try, and In these windowless kitchens,
steady fires are out Of the question, did
not the scarcity and high price Of fuel
prevent where trees do not abound nor
coal mines exist. When gnarled md
crooked sticks are bought by weight atI
the rate Of cent and i half per pound
and coal, brought from great distances,
is SIG to $40 per ton, naturally economy
IN fuel is prime consideration a typi-l
cal Mexican kitchen has neither stove,
table, chair nor cupboard the clean
swept clay floor, an adobe shelf against
the wall aud d few hooks and pegs an-I
swering every purpose In the houses Of
the rich an adobe range is built into the
wall, which is really a long, narrow box,
made of SIM baked clay and partitioned
of. with little compartments. within
each of which q handful of charcoal may
be consumed. The middle classes use q
big clay jar, or pot, in lieu Of range, in
which charcoalIis also burned, while the
poor have 6 all outdoors 7 for q kitchen,
and build their tiny fire of sticks Wher-
ever it is most convenient The cooking
utensils are seldom of iron, because here
that metal is very scarce and dear, but
earthen pots are almost universally used
instead Of the kettles and frying pans to
which northern housekeepers are accus-
toned 1t seems incredible that a dinner
of several courses can be prepared over q
charcoal pot not much larger than q peck
measure, the various edibles all cooked
in smaller pots set within it. Let us OBJ
serve some of the dishes. Perhaps the
most important part of the menu IS the
t0rtiila, or unleavened par. cake, the
Mexican 8 stall of life 4 and staple article
of food It is made of common field
corn, soaked in lime water, and then
crushed into paste on d stone snetdts with
q stone roller. The women Of the house
hold 90 through the entire laborious pro-
cess as many time every day as there arc
meals to be eaten, kneeling upon the
floor behind the low aaetate The paste
is then mixed with a little water, with
no salt or soda, and small masses of it
| are fattened into little cakes, much like
| English scenes or Yankee buckwheats,
spatted into shape between the hands
and baked Immediately on fat stone,
or piece Of iron or tin, over the fire.
Throughout all Mexico t01titlas have been
| il use from the earliest times, with no
| change in the manner Of making them,
except that for the noble Aztecs in
Monteznma's time the leaves Of various
medical plants were kneaded il with the.
| dough.
Then there is pucharo, or the boiled
conglomeration that always follows the
soup, consisting of mutton, beef. bacon,
fowls, sausage, garbanzos Ga large white
beam, small gourds, squash, greens,
pears, apples and every other seed, root
and vegetable known to man, all boiled
together, piece Of each piled npon your
!; plate, and a sauce Of herbs, tomatoes and
red hot chill poured over it. At every
Mexican dinner, 365 days in the year,
/ the third course is invariably pucharo
after caldo ibrothl, and the stew Of rice,
yermicelli or macaroni, mixed with toma-
toes, cheese or sour milk. Theresis mole.
which means any kind Of fish, flesh or
fowl, with sauce Of roasted chill pep
pers, which turns the whole thing to q
deep, dark red and IS fiery enough to
draw tears from the eyes of craven
image. There Is the tamale, innocent
enough in its looks to tempt baby, but
so hot with chill within that ones throat
needs to be triple plated with tin. It is
made of red peppers. tomatoes and
onions, with chopped meat, rolled up id
tortilla dough and put inside d corn husk,
which fiavors them through and through,
and really they are not bad when ones
Inner man. becomes hardened TO
the chilli Another delicacy is known
us enchilades made of tortilla dough
rolled over an unexprsssible conundrnm
Of chopped chickens, red peppers, green
tomatoes, garlic, raisins, and heaven
knows what These are also enclosed in
corn husks and boiled, and are very good
eating If one Is not too particular rs til
| the component parts Of the conundruin
and the dirt it may incidentally cnntain.
There are also boiled nopals. Or frnit Of
the ssprickIy pear species Of cacti !.
bananas fried IN lard goats milk cheese
to he eaten with honey and last but
BY no means least. ire oIes, or red Leans,
which everybody IN Mexico eats at least
twice day, and which Immediately
precede the desert at every well regnla-
! ted dinner They are first parboiled III
water, after which the cook takes the
stewing jar, pours out The water. throws
the beans into the air and catches them